Eric Weaver's son is a freshman in college now. Back when he was in
kindergarten, Weaver volunteered at his school, where he couldn't help
noticing that the kids were sneaking into the teachers' snacks.
Not only were kids hungry because they hadn't eaten breakfast, Weaver
discovered, but what the schools were serving them for lunch was hardly
appetizing. "It was atrocious," Weaver says. "They had this grilled
cheese heated in a plastic wrapper that was all mush. Corn dogs. The
peanut butter and jelly was just crackers smeared with this stuff."
An appeals attorney in Berkeley, Calif., Weaver started talking to
other parents, and they got busy. One mother conducted her own survey
and found that half the food served at lunch wound up in the garbage.
"The kids would eat just enough to beat back the hunger, then throw the
rest in the trash."
Just to show that kids would eat healthier food if given a chance,
another parent started serving fresh, homemade soup and bread at one of
Berkeley's elementary schools. Parents at another elementary school
started a breakfast program, serving bagels once a week.
"We said, 'If you make good, healthy food, they will eat it,'" Weaver
recalls.
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